MHA To Brief House Panel About Functioning Of Assam Rifles In NE

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will be giving a detailed description of the functioning of the Assam Rifles in northeastern states to a Parliamentary panel on Wednesday.

The 30-member committee under the chairmanship of senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal Abhishek Manu Singhvi will hear the views of MHA officials who will explain to the panel about the functioning of Assam Rifles.

The meeting is scheduled to commence at around 3.30pm today.

"Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs to hear the views of Ministry of Home Affairs on the functioning of Assam Rifles," mentions the subject of the meeting.

It may be mentioned that Assam Rifles is tasked with the maintenance of law and order in the North East along with the Indian Army and also guards the Indo-Myanmar border in the region.

Assam Rifles is one of the six Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) under the administrative control of the MHA. It has strength of over 63,000 personnel and having 46 battalions apart from administrative and training staff.

Last year in December, Assam Rifles came under heavy fire after the killing of over a dozen civilians in the Mon district of Nagaland followed by an angry crowd vandalising camps of the force in the region.

The botched operation was launched by the Indian Army, Assam Rifles. Later, the force apologized and also instituted an inquiry into the incident.

Assam Rifles is the only paramilitary force with a dual control structure. While the administrative control of the force is with the MHA, its operational control is with the Indian Army, which is under the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

It is the only central paramilitary force in a real sense as its operational duties and regimentation are on the lines of the Indian Army. However, being a Central Armed Police force under MHA, its recruitment, perks, promotion of its personnel and retirement policies are governed according to the rules framed by the MHA for CAPFs.

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